Not Your Typical Political Spouse

Unsurprisingly, Alaska’s “First Dude” comes across as a regular guy in every sense, albeit one who is fairly at ease being interviewed for a national TV program; van Susteren doesn’t really seem to know what to do with him. He doesn’t really do much ‘selling’ of his wife’s campaign here, just answers the questions put to him and gives a tour of his property.

We don’t really have a ‘mold’ for male political spouses at the national level – Bill Clinton and Bob Dole were both established national political figures in their own right, John Zaccaro was a crook who got indicted a few months after the election (fine vetting job done by Jim Johnson, there). Todd Palin – commercial fisherman, snowmobile racer, oil field worker, blue-collar jack-of-all-trades – is definitely a departure from the people who usually populate the national stage. When van Susteren asks about when they first got wind that Gov. Palin was under serious consideration for the VP slot, he mentions that he was working the night shift on the North Slope.